


Jealousy

by AdaMarina



Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017), PKNA - Paperinik New Adventures
Genre: Also the story is a lot more lighthearted than the title would suggest, Crossover, Lots of people flirt with Donald, M/M, MORE SHIP FUEL, Other (onesided) pairings mentioned too, Other Characters Are Mentioned, Uno is an android, need more
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-06
Updated: 2018-11-06
Packaged: 2019-08-19 20:02:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16541246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AdaMarina/pseuds/AdaMarina
Summary: It's complicated when you're an android who's rather new to emotions, and the most important person in your life is oblivious to all the people who flirt with him.Oh. It also doesn't help when you've fallen in love with the oblivious idiot, either.





	Jealousy

**Author's Note:**

> This was written ages ago and posted to tumblr ages ago but now I'm gonna add it here. I have no shame, y'all. I will go down with this ship and y'all get to roll your eyes at me

“What’s the point of marriage, anyway?”

It had been a simple question but it still stopped Donald in his tracks. Uno was watching the happy couple near the water, their celebrations over a successful (and accepted) marriage proposal getting almost the entire beach’s attention.

Scrooge, Launchpad, Gladstone and the children didn’t catch the question, as it had been said quietly to Donald alone.

“Well,” Donald started, falling back behind the rest of his family to walk beside Uno. “For many people, it’s symbolic of wanting to spend their entire lives together.”

“You can do that without a ring and piece of paper,” Uno dismissed easily, and Donald chuckled.

“Yes,” he agreed, “but marriage is a hell of a lot harder to get out of. And there are benefits… it also makes things easier in a lot of cases. I mean, taxes, inheritance and stuff, and healthcare-”

“I know all that. It just seems ridiculous to me.”

Donald shrugged. “I think it’s a sweet idea. I came close to getting married once,” he threw out, and Uno immediately looked at him. “I’d been planning for weeks to propose to Daisy before Della disappeared,” he explained quietly, glancing aside. “I thought I loved her, and she loved me, and the thought of spending the rest of my life with her was exciting at the time- but, well, you know what happened after Della…”

“You wanted to marry her,” Uno started slowly, “but instead you broke up with her?”

“Children are a full-time thing,” Donald defended. “Just because I was losing my dreams didn’t mean she needed to, too. I cared enough about her to want her to go fulfil  _her_ dreams. And, considering how things are now, it probably was for the best.”

“Because you didn’t love her,” Uno guessed, a small, smug grin on his face.

Donald lightly elbowed the droid, rolling his eyes while Uno laughed. “Remind me why I’m dating you again?”

“Because you love me. And don’t forget you’re the one who said it.”

* * *

Uno knew a lot of things, simply because he was programmed to. He knew the laws, he knew the traditions, he even knew how to cook and dance.

That didn’t mean he  _understood_ them.

“Uno, wait, you need oven mitts for that!”

“Why? The heat doesn’t- oh.”

“Worry less about the steps and more about the rhythm.”

“But they’re the same thing-”

“You just put the star on top of the tree, it’s no big deal.”

“I know, but why? What if it falls? It seems like a safety hazard-”

Uno knew a lot of things, but how to be “human” wasn’t something he intrinsically knew.

Thankfully, he had Donald there to teach him the things he didn’t know or understand. Having been friends for so long it was only natural that, once Uno had a body of his own, he turned to Donald for advice on being a person, rather than a computer.

Everything he really knew and understood about people- the way they thought, the way they acted, the emotions they felt, the emotions Uno  _himself_ felt- he learned thanks to his friend. Maybe, then, it shouldn’t have been a surprise to Uno to find himself learning to love from him, as well.

Or, more accurately, to find himself falling  _for_ him.

It was ridiculous. Illogical, he was sure, but undeniable once it had been pointed out. He acted irrationally when it came to Donald, all reason thrown to the wind in preference for how he  _felt._

Donald could swim. He was probably the best swimmer Uno knew, he literally lived on the water for a decade and was a sailor. Yet still, when Donald tripped and fell off the side of the ship, Uno panicked. Donald turned out to be fine, mind you- he just resurfaced, spitting out saltwater- but for a brief moment Uno was sure that his friend would drown.

Scrooge loved Donald, probably more than he loved himself. Uno knew that. He still couldn’t bring himself to like the old duck, though. Memories replayed like movies, flashing through his mind faster than any biological would have ever been able to process, and he felt an insane desire to keep Donald away from his uncle. To protect him. This feeling didn’t seem to extend to any of the children, who he logically knew were in the same amount of danger with the duck that Donald had been back then. If not more, considering they were literally children whereas Donald didn’t start adventuring until he was a teenager. Yet still, it was only Donald he felt a desire to remove from the room when the old Scot walked in. It was only Donald that he protested going on adventures. And it was only Donald that he felt any significant anger about getting injured.

But perhaps the most illogical thing he hadn’t even realized until it was pointed out to him; he was jealous.

Uno knew jealousy, mind you, but it had always been about mundane things. Innocent things, things that didn’t have a significant impact. Donald turned to his phone for information instead of Uno? It wasn’t a big deal. Donald got to go to the future and see things that Uno wouldn’t get to see for a good two hundred years? Didn’t really matter- Uno knew he’s the one who invents half of it, even if Donald to that day still hadn’t put the pieces together. In the end, it was meaningless and passed.

What wasn’t meaningless was how he felt when Donald and Fenton spent so much time together, or when Storkules would tackle Donald and cling to him the entire time they were at Ithaquack. What didn’t pass was the way random men and women started flirting with Donald on almost every adventure they were dragged on. What wasn’t okay was how he felt every time Daisy came for a visit, or any time Uno saw a picture of her and Donald together.

It was ridiculous, and he was completely unable to identify that burning feeling, so close to anger yet definitely not, in his chest. At least, not until Louie looked up at him one day while Donald was chatting with some bird, raised a brow and simply said;

“You know there’s no reason to be jealous, right?”

In hindsight, it was so obvious.

Being with Donald made him happy. Having his attention made him even happier. He liked when Donald laughed, he loved when he smiled and he delighted in their old jokes coming back with new ones to join them. It was exciting to be able to fight by his side, rather than watch from a distance. There were a lot of things he loved about Donald, things he didn’t love about anyone else.

The realization that he enjoyed these things so much because it was  _Donald_ left him confused and unsure.

He was jealous to see Donald focus so much on Fenton. He was jealous when Launchpad asked Donald out on a friendly lunch. He was jealous that Storkules felt so comfortable hugging Donald in ways the duck would not have tolerated from anyone else. He was jealous when complete strangers didn’t even hesitate to start flirting with the oblivious duck.

But the android chose not to say anything. Why should he say anything? He had no right to feel jealous.

“Are you in love with him or something?”

It had been said passively, not seriously, but the youngest triplet’s words struck a chord.

He had no right to be jealous but he was.

And the most illogical thing he had ever known; he was in love with his best friend.

* * *

“Why?”

Donald looked over at Uno, confused. Uno was watching him cook from his place at the houseboat’s table, arms folded over and head resting on top.

“Why what?” Donald glanced down at the frosting he was in the middle of making. “Why… am I doing this by hand?”

“Why do you love me?”

Uno  _tried_ to figure it out. He really did. Donald had confessed during a dire situation that they weren’t sure any of them could escape- at first Uno wasn’t even sure whether he’d meant it or if it had been a “heat of the moment” type deal. But Donald had approached him later and admitted that it was true. It made Uno happy.

He couldn’t figure out  _why,_  though. There were so many people who were better for him. More compatible, so to say. Uno was an android. He didn’t understand everything about being human yet. Fenton already knew. Launchpad did, as well. Storkules was a literal demigod, but even he knew more about being human than Uno did. They were all biological, after all- Uno was not.

Why, he asked himself often, would Donald love a machine? Even if neither Donald nor Uno himself considered him a machine, he still wasn’t biological. At the end of the day, he was still an advanced, sentient AI in a body made of synthetic skin, faux feathers, metal and wires. A very realistic, very advanced android body… but an android nonetheless.

So why?

Donald blinked at him before setting the frosting down. “Well that’s a loaded question,” he noted, going over to the table and dropping down in the seat across from Uno. “Why are you asking?”

“Because I don’t understand,” he admitted. “I’m an android.”

“So?”

Uno blinked. “So… I’m not biological.”

Donald rubbed his forehead. “No, you’re not,” he agreed. “It doesn’t bother me. You’ve been my best friend longer than the kids have even been alive, and I can talk to you about things no one else will care about, let alone understand. Being an android doesn’t make you less of a person, Uno- and I love the person you are.”

As if emphasizing his words, Donald laid a hand over Uno’s. Although Uno didn’t completely understand, he did find it comforting and smiled slightly at Donald.

“And besides, who else would put up with my terrible jokes?”

Uno snorted. “Point.”

* * *

Logically, Uno knew, he had no reason to be jealous of other people. Donald didn’t love them, after all, and they all seemed to respect that. For the most part, Uno stopped feeling that terrible panging jealousy whenever he saw Donald with someone who was clearly interested in him- because now, Donald grabbed  _his_ hand, introduced him as not his friend but his  _partner,_  and Uno knew that he wouldn’t lose Donald to them.

That still didn’t stop the irritation on adventures when a stranger actually thought they had a chance. He didn’t bring it up- it was ridiculous, Donald didn’t even  _notice_ the flirting after all- but he kept it in mind.

And if he enjoyed dragging Donald out on a date where a waitress who left Donald her number worked, or to a park where some vendor who dropped Donald a line worked, and if he felt some strange satisfaction when he caught their eye while holding Donald’s hand, well… that certainly wasn’t anyone else’s business.

Donald remained terribly oblivious to it all.

Uno didn’t realize he himself could be oblivious, too.

“What’s eating you?” Uno asked Donald, closing the door behind him and watching as Donald just tossed himself on one of the beds. The triplets, although they were actually in Donald and Uno’s room, had run off to explore Scrooge’s excessively-large suite along with Launchpad and Webby.

It was a nice hotel, though Uno felt it paled in comparison to what Ducklair Tower once was. The rooms were spacious and had a good view of the city below. The children were excited, as they always were when Scrooge decided on a hotel rather than camping or sleeping in the plane, but Donald was largely unfazed by these things. Uno knew it was a mix of adventures with Scrooge and his  _other_ secret job.

Yet it wasn’t typical to see Donald  _pouting._

“The desk guy  _literally_ asked you on a date, Uno.”

“What?” Uno almost laughed. “Why would someone have asked me on a date?”

Donald just looked at him and Uno felt ridiculous, because Donald was his boyfriend- of course Donald would see reasons that Uno didn’t. 

“Need I even answer that?”

“No, you need not.” He went over to the bed, dropping down beside Donald and patting his arm comfortingly. “I don’t know where you got the idea he asked me on a date.”

“He literally asked, ‘do you have plans tomorrow night,’ Uno. He was  _definitely_ asking you on a date.”

Uno silently reviewed the interaction in his head and realized that Donald was right. He hadn’t even noticed- usually it was Donald who was being asked out. But as he reviewed the memory, he saw something interesting that he hadn’t in that moment; Donald looked rather indignant. Almost offended.

Uno wondered if that was what jealousy looked like.

“Is that why you decided at that moment that we were, in fact, going to that themepark you told the kids we would  _not_ be going to?”

Donald’s face flushed in embarrassment and he averted his eyes. “It got him to back off.”

Donald wasn’t the only one who was oblivious, but neither was Uno the only one to get jealous. That comforted him somehow.

He smiled slightly and laid down next to his partner, giving him a hug. “We’re both pretty ridiculous, aren’t we?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Don’t worry about it, Donald.”

* * *

“I wouldn’t mind marrying you.”

It had been said so casually, Uno himself almost hadn’t realized he’d even said it. Donald, on the other hand, immediately tripped over nothing, so startled he was by the words.

Uno peered down at his partner, amused, and offered him a hand up.

“You really shouldn’t say things like that so randomly,” Donald said as Uno pulled him to his feet. “I thought you thought marriage was weird.”

“It is,” Uno shrugged, continuing walking with Donald. The rest of the family was further up the path, the children buzzing in excitement for the temple they could just barely catch glimpses of through the trees. “But love in general is, so it’s rather fitting, isn’t it?”

Donald couldn’t help but laugh a bit at his words. “I guess it is,” he agreed, grabbing Uno’s hand in his own. “So you want to get married, then?”

Uno considered it, watching Donald’s family disappear around a bend. He was an android- he would outlive Donald by hundreds of years, assuming Scrooge didn’t drag his entire family into some form of immortality. Their entire relationship was destined to end in tragedy, but then… wasn’t everyone’s?

Might as well enjoy the short time they had together. It wasn’t like it would really change anything- they’d still be together anyway, right up to the end.

Well, it  _would_ change one thing. Maybe those strangers would stop trying when they noticed matching rings.

He laughed at himself and Donald raised a brow.

“You know what they say about people who laugh alone, right?”

“Don’t worry about it,” Uno excused, lightly bumping their arms together. “I still think it’s weird, but our lives have never been normal to begin with.”

“So that’s a yes?”

“Do you want it to be a yes?”

“Do you?”

They looked at each other for a moment before they both started laughing, neither sure exactly why but not minding it, either. It was nice to laugh together.

“Honestly?” Donald started once their laughter died off. “Yeah.”

Uno smiled back at him, feeling strangely happy in that moment. “Good, because I do too.”

The moment was short-lived when Scrooge backtracked and called, “Ye two hurry it up! We want tae get inside the temple  _before_ next century!”

There was a beat as Uno realized, “Wait, does that make him my  _in-law?!”_

Donald could only laugh at Uno’s horror and Scrooge’s confusion.

**Author's Note:**

> Also yes. I think in a DT17 PK setting, Uno would not like Scrooge, but that's more because of the impression that was left on me about Donald, Scrooge and Della's adventuring days.


End file.
